I work at a factory....
I work at a factory, and I'm pretty damn good at it. I am one of two people on the line (not including supervisors) who can run a particularly crazy and important machine, and often the ole' ladies on the line want me to run it since Jonah (the other person who can run it) is great at palletizing and is more useful there (since we have all IDIOTS on our line and if they are able bodied enough to palletize, 95% of the time they are too fucking dumb to actually be able to). That said - often, when we are doing cakes instead of muffins or cupcakes (which, those two go thru the machine I run), I am left to do a job that 2 people do. Why? Because I can joke around, talk, even make sure that I don't have to rely on someone to keep me supplied with something (such as: stacking cakes that go thru our cooling spiral into baskets on a pallet.) Eventually I run out of baskets. There is a guy running around taking the pallets I fill to another staging spot as well as bringing cool enough cakes to a guy who's putting them onto a belt that goes down to the packers. Confused? Well, it'd be simpler if the machines we have like the spiral (it spirals up and back down and it carries HOT pans with cakes and shit in it all the way thru - supposedly it cools them off enough to be packed. It's usually about 20 degrees too hot) actually worked. But things don't work there. We are constantly running around putting out fires - both literally and figuratively.
Ooh, let's do something fun! Let's see how many fucked up things I can list about that place:
Even though it's been over 100 a few times in there since Fall started - they refused to let us have the water bottles on the line. 3 people passed out from heat. They only provide water for people for the legal limit. Which is like 3months - 90days.
The cake line we have has killed 3 people. They died from heart attacks that were stress induced.
There's standing water all over the place.
The grey cement floor is black now from all the grease. Which is why we have pig food - food that is not packing worthy or has hit the floor. No amount of cleaning will ever get thru that grease. We have a Zamboni style floor cleaner and it doesn't get thru much at all. You can tell it's clean because there isn't batter, berries or sprinkles everywhere...
Sometimes, if something falls on the ground and it's needed to finish filling a box or something - I've seen a supervisor say to pack it. I've packed some of the nastiest cakes that were sent to Hannaford to be decorated. It's awful.
The building is infested with cockroaches.
The pans we put batter into to bake things NEVER get washed. And they hit the floor and are stacked on the floor, all the time.
Icing can be 2 weeks old before it's actually put atop cupcakes and such.
There is no ac in there, and often times it's so hot that the icing is melting off of the cupcakes. It's been over 140 degrees where I'm working at the picknpack and the poor oven guy with wicked asthma was in 157 degree heat. Inhumane.
There was a meeting at one point where the supervisors discussed if it was really necessary to do an allergen wash after certain products (Jonah, afore mentioned, is deathly allergic to walnuts. He would die if he ate a small bit of a cake that was baked after we did carrot cake if there was no 3 hour washout. Our big boss is allergic like that with chocolate - it wasn't until someone said, well, would you like to be the taste tester after we don't do an allergen washout that we decided we should keep the washouts. I mean, come on! IDIOT!)
There are bare wires hanging from the ceiling. And I've actually managed to accidentally rip one out.
We don't actually have a ceiling. It's insulation covered with paper.
In the MIDDLE of the building, there's a 2 story structure. It's the jelly roll line. And they have their oven upstairs. It's supposed to be 7+ ft away from the "ceiling". It's 5'. Every time that line runs, Bernie LaBree (the owner) must pay over $10K in fines so that OSHA will back off.
Let's see. What else.
My machine is so stressful, just from pans backing up (my supervisor won't listen to ANYONE and will have the oven loader up too high *meaning that the oven is instead of having just one pan put into it to bake like we would do, it's putting 56 pans in a minute (in rows of 7 or 8) or something like that. Often the standard is 56 and he runs it at 66. My machine doesn't run that fast, so the pans back up and I have to take them off the belt and put them onto a rack so I can put it on again later. It's a pain in the ass and I'm usually pulling off 4 pans every 3 minutes.* and from the Thieles not running right (those are the machines that suction cup domes from a stack and put them onto a belt that goes and meets with the pans.) as well as the robots themselves not running right at all(there are 24 suction cups for each robot and there are 2. They suction the product out of the pan, and then move it over to the belt with the domes and deposits it there. The cups get clogged. They lose their suction cups. The hoses are broken or clogged, or the machine itself isn't aligned.....so many issues to be watching for.)
And I run that machine by myself, and I only randomly have help. Usually that's because I have to rack the pans like nuts (or they back up into the spiral and that makes it shut off, which is bad for the oven guy because he can't just stop a 90' oven.....) and don't have time to run into the cage itself and fix the issue. Everything is on a moving conveyor belt, that's something to keep in mind, too - you can't just shut down the whole line.
Wow. I babbled about work too much.
The plus though is that I'm due for my second bonus - $250-taxes. The first one was for $150 and I got $133. It's for perfect attendance. I've known a bunch of people to work there and no one has gotten a bonus. In fact, all the "friends" I've known to work there got fired. Not me or Zach. Zach's a line leader on the front line, and I'm the picknpack runner on the back line. We're favored employees. I've only taken off 1 day since March 11. I have worked every single day (including many doubles and 6 day weeks) and only took my birthday off. They have a 1 day rule where you can miss one day and not lose your bonus - so I'm still in. :-)
So favored in fact, that Zach and I were hounded about going to a party Saturday night. It was at this guy James and his g/f Taylor's burn spot (burn beds, couches, etc - typical Mainers). Only people from work were there, including my line leader (same position as Zach, but for my line). James and Taylor kept making sure we were coming because they were just desparate to have some fun. And fun we had, kinda low key but I mean, we just hung out. It was neat. HUGE bonfire, I had 4 beers and let Zach have as many as he wanted, smoked a bunch of lungs (I even got to bring it home and it even has a HUGE leaf on it which I think is neat) and just generally talked socially. I'm really glad we went. :-) James took a picture, and I'll have to see if he'll let me have a copy. I'd love to post it.
Let's see, what else to chat about..... I'm going to be selling online I think soon. I just need to figure out how to make our unsecured wireless network secured, and then make an account on etsy and ebay. We're 7 months behind in rent, but I think we could be paid up and have the rest of this year paid off as well by mid December. That would be awesome. We were at 18 months behind, but Zach has paid off 9 months by himself. He let me focus on my credit card, and all I've done is pay 800 which is two months so far. I should be getting a rent reimbursement check soon - I filled out the application but made a mistake on the "resident all year" question and was denied so I had to write an appeal letter. I did that and mailed it last week. I hope I get it, I calculated it should be about 800, which puts us as 5 months behind with the rest of this year (not including October, that's paid for now) or 7 months behind with the rest of the year paid for. Either way, that's 2 months rent that I don't have to come up with. I'm eager to get it and give the money to Gramp. I'm sick of being in debt.
Speaking of being sick of being in debt - after we pay off Gramp, we're done. Well, except for Zach's SR22 that he has for his OUI (insurance on your insurance that you have to pay for for 3 years. We're going to be a year and a half into it next Februaryish. We'd like to be able to pay for 6 months at a time that way we don't have to worry about it) and our phone bills. I'm thinking that if I can be successful online with the hats even a little bit, it should be able to pay for itself. Which would be awesome. As long as I sell at least 1 hat for $30 each month, I have internet paid for. I'm thinking of having the money that I earn off the internet be for paying for internet (til I have a year set aside, then I can put it towards somethingelse), and the money that I earn off of the people at work be for Evie's vet visit, any medicines, my doctor appointments (which should be cheap since I'm on MaineCare now) and yarn. Seeing as how All of these things don't happen all the time (doctor visits like once a year) I'm anticipating that I'll be creating an actual nest egg after a bit. That'll be awesome. Cuz I've estimated that I've got like $800 already made in hats. :-)
Let's see.Oh! I got a chair for my living room (it's a great chair, but it's got the room so cluttered now - it just reinforces our need to move) and we got a new rug for the kitchen (now our toes won't freeze when we cook!) - here's pictures:
and here's 3 of Evie too:
I guess that's pretty much it for now - I can always come back later, yay!!!
Off to do crochet order #2, maybe have Zach do order #3 that way we get it done faster and he's got something to do too (the tunic he's doing for me is confusing him and I've never done it before so I'm no help) that way I can get onto Bobby's scarf - which is the oldest order. Well, not really. I'm supposed to do a quilt for Kandace, fix Dad's blanket, do a wedding ring blanket for my grandparents, hats/scarves/gloves for Becca and her friend Shannon as well as 2 bags. But, I think that these orders are exactly what I need to get my ass in gear. Exciting!
Namaste!
Ia ora na!
Ooh, let's do something fun! Let's see how many fucked up things I can list about that place:
Even though it's been over 100 a few times in there since Fall started - they refused to let us have the water bottles on the line. 3 people passed out from heat. They only provide water for people for the legal limit. Which is like 3months - 90days.
The cake line we have has killed 3 people. They died from heart attacks that were stress induced.
There's standing water all over the place.
The grey cement floor is black now from all the grease. Which is why we have pig food - food that is not packing worthy or has hit the floor. No amount of cleaning will ever get thru that grease. We have a Zamboni style floor cleaner and it doesn't get thru much at all. You can tell it's clean because there isn't batter, berries or sprinkles everywhere...
Sometimes, if something falls on the ground and it's needed to finish filling a box or something - I've seen a supervisor say to pack it. I've packed some of the nastiest cakes that were sent to Hannaford to be decorated. It's awful.
The building is infested with cockroaches.
The pans we put batter into to bake things NEVER get washed. And they hit the floor and are stacked on the floor, all the time.
Icing can be 2 weeks old before it's actually put atop cupcakes and such.
There is no ac in there, and often times it's so hot that the icing is melting off of the cupcakes. It's been over 140 degrees where I'm working at the picknpack and the poor oven guy with wicked asthma was in 157 degree heat. Inhumane.
There was a meeting at one point where the supervisors discussed if it was really necessary to do an allergen wash after certain products (Jonah, afore mentioned, is deathly allergic to walnuts. He would die if he ate a small bit of a cake that was baked after we did carrot cake if there was no 3 hour washout. Our big boss is allergic like that with chocolate - it wasn't until someone said, well, would you like to be the taste tester after we don't do an allergen washout that we decided we should keep the washouts. I mean, come on! IDIOT!)
There are bare wires hanging from the ceiling. And I've actually managed to accidentally rip one out.
We don't actually have a ceiling. It's insulation covered with paper.
In the MIDDLE of the building, there's a 2 story structure. It's the jelly roll line. And they have their oven upstairs. It's supposed to be 7+ ft away from the "ceiling". It's 5'. Every time that line runs, Bernie LaBree (the owner) must pay over $10K in fines so that OSHA will back off.
Let's see. What else.
My machine is so stressful, just from pans backing up (my supervisor won't listen to ANYONE and will have the oven loader up too high *meaning that the oven is instead of having just one pan put into it to bake like we would do, it's putting 56 pans in a minute (in rows of 7 or 8) or something like that. Often the standard is 56 and he runs it at 66. My machine doesn't run that fast, so the pans back up and I have to take them off the belt and put them onto a rack so I can put it on again later. It's a pain in the ass and I'm usually pulling off 4 pans every 3 minutes.* and from the Thieles not running right (those are the machines that suction cup domes from a stack and put them onto a belt that goes and meets with the pans.) as well as the robots themselves not running right at all(there are 24 suction cups for each robot and there are 2. They suction the product out of the pan, and then move it over to the belt with the domes and deposits it there. The cups get clogged. They lose their suction cups. The hoses are broken or clogged, or the machine itself isn't aligned.....so many issues to be watching for.)
And I run that machine by myself, and I only randomly have help. Usually that's because I have to rack the pans like nuts (or they back up into the spiral and that makes it shut off, which is bad for the oven guy because he can't just stop a 90' oven.....) and don't have time to run into the cage itself and fix the issue. Everything is on a moving conveyor belt, that's something to keep in mind, too - you can't just shut down the whole line.
Wow. I babbled about work too much.
The plus though is that I'm due for my second bonus - $250-taxes. The first one was for $150 and I got $133. It's for perfect attendance. I've known a bunch of people to work there and no one has gotten a bonus. In fact, all the "friends" I've known to work there got fired. Not me or Zach. Zach's a line leader on the front line, and I'm the picknpack runner on the back line. We're favored employees. I've only taken off 1 day since March 11. I have worked every single day (including many doubles and 6 day weeks) and only took my birthday off. They have a 1 day rule where you can miss one day and not lose your bonus - so I'm still in. :-)
So favored in fact, that Zach and I were hounded about going to a party Saturday night. It was at this guy James and his g/f Taylor's burn spot (burn beds, couches, etc - typical Mainers). Only people from work were there, including my line leader (same position as Zach, but for my line). James and Taylor kept making sure we were coming because they were just desparate to have some fun. And fun we had, kinda low key but I mean, we just hung out. It was neat. HUGE bonfire, I had 4 beers and let Zach have as many as he wanted, smoked a bunch of lungs (I even got to bring it home and it even has a HUGE leaf on it which I think is neat) and just generally talked socially. I'm really glad we went. :-) James took a picture, and I'll have to see if he'll let me have a copy. I'd love to post it.
Let's see, what else to chat about..... I'm going to be selling online I think soon. I just need to figure out how to make our unsecured wireless network secured, and then make an account on etsy and ebay. We're 7 months behind in rent, but I think we could be paid up and have the rest of this year paid off as well by mid December. That would be awesome. We were at 18 months behind, but Zach has paid off 9 months by himself. He let me focus on my credit card, and all I've done is pay 800 which is two months so far. I should be getting a rent reimbursement check soon - I filled out the application but made a mistake on the "resident all year" question and was denied so I had to write an appeal letter. I did that and mailed it last week. I hope I get it, I calculated it should be about 800, which puts us as 5 months behind with the rest of this year (not including October, that's paid for now) or 7 months behind with the rest of the year paid for. Either way, that's 2 months rent that I don't have to come up with. I'm eager to get it and give the money to Gramp. I'm sick of being in debt.
Speaking of being sick of being in debt - after we pay off Gramp, we're done. Well, except for Zach's SR22 that he has for his OUI (insurance on your insurance that you have to pay for for 3 years. We're going to be a year and a half into it next Februaryish. We'd like to be able to pay for 6 months at a time that way we don't have to worry about it) and our phone bills. I'm thinking that if I can be successful online with the hats even a little bit, it should be able to pay for itself. Which would be awesome. As long as I sell at least 1 hat for $30 each month, I have internet paid for. I'm thinking of having the money that I earn off the internet be for paying for internet (til I have a year set aside, then I can put it towards somethingelse), and the money that I earn off of the people at work be for Evie's vet visit, any medicines, my doctor appointments (which should be cheap since I'm on MaineCare now) and yarn. Seeing as how All of these things don't happen all the time (doctor visits like once a year) I'm anticipating that I'll be creating an actual nest egg after a bit. That'll be awesome. Cuz I've estimated that I've got like $800 already made in hats. :-)
Let's see.Oh! I got a chair for my living room (it's a great chair, but it's got the room so cluttered now - it just reinforces our need to move) and we got a new rug for the kitchen (now our toes won't freeze when we cook!) - here's pictures:
and here's 3 of Evie too:
I guess that's pretty much it for now - I can always come back later, yay!!!
Off to do crochet order #2, maybe have Zach do order #3 that way we get it done faster and he's got something to do too (the tunic he's doing for me is confusing him and I've never done it before so I'm no help) that way I can get onto Bobby's scarf - which is the oldest order. Well, not really. I'm supposed to do a quilt for Kandace, fix Dad's blanket, do a wedding ring blanket for my grandparents, hats/scarves/gloves for Becca and her friend Shannon as well as 2 bags. But, I think that these orders are exactly what I need to get my ass in gear. Exciting!
Namaste!
Ia ora na!